Chapter 84: Strange Small World

Saturday, January 28, 1984

As planned, we both slept late. By the time I got up, Dad was at his desk paying bills and Mom was flipping through the paper. We chatted for a bit, and then I headed for the bathroom.

By the time I was done in there, Angie was out and talking to Mom, and looking towards the bathroom.

Mom chuckled. “I can’t believe I’ve got two teenagers and they never fight over the bathroom.”

“Once!” Angie called.

Mom chuckled a bit more. “As I recall, you had a good reason.”

“And as I recall, you made it clear that even a good reason wasn’t reason enough,” Angie said.

“I may have said that.”

“And you were right,” Angie said. “Those were words to live by. Fighting like that is dumb.”

“Definitely,” I said.

“And with that, I’m off!” Angie said, heading down the hall.

I got a bowl, some cereal, half a grapefruit, and some milk. Not an unusual breakfast, though neither was having eggs or bacon. So much of what people in the 1980s thought they knew about cholesterol was just plain wrong, and quite a bit of the thoughts on carbohydrates were wrong, too. They were still learning new things in 2021, after all.

“It bodes well for college,” Mom said, smiling.

“It does,” I said, nodding.

“You said that you found a nice rental house?”

“Yeah. It’s dated, but we can do a rent-to-own deal for only a bit more than the rent would be, and the odds are good we can pass it to some other students and do well. We’ll have to update it, though, but we’re all pretty handy.”

“I want pictures of you and the girls remodeling!” Mom said, grinning.

“Speaking of which, Angie has pictures of the house, I think.”

“Not developed yet!” Angie called from inside the bathroom.

Mom shook her head. “The number of things that I thought I would never approve of — and not all that long ago, either! — that I’m just fine with now sometimes has my head spinning. It all makes sense, though, even when part of me wishes it didn’t.”

I smiled. “Mom, you have to know that it makes both of us very happy that you do.”

She chuckled. “You’d just do it anyway.”

“It’s not that. It’s you supporting us that matters. You and Dad. You both raised us to do what we thought was best, which says that, yes, we’d just do it anyway, but we wouldn’t feel the same about it if you were unhappy.”

“Jasmine and Paige would both make great daughters-in-law. I’d be proud of them! I’m not quite sure how I’m going to tell Ma about it, though, and don’t even get me started on Tim, since that means Helen.”

“Maybe Helen can live in bliss,” I said.

“Ignorance is bliss, you mean,” she said, grinning. “No, though. Tim should know, and if Helen can’t handle it, that’s her problem. Well, and his, but he can decide that, not me. My family is going to know what’s going on with my kids.”

Angie came in and leaned down, giving Mom a hug. “That means a lot, Mom.”

“It’s the least I can do. God saw fit to bring you here to us — both of you! — and we love you. All of you, all of the time. Even back in the days I was losing hair over Steve’s antics, and even when you were dating that boy.”

“It’d be an easy story if I’d just given up after him,” Angie said, fetching the other half of the grapefruit and joining us at the table.

“I liked Gene, and I’m sorry that it didn’t work out,” Mom said. “Not because he’s a boy, though. Just because he’s a good kid.”

“Gene’s much better off with Sue than me,” Angie said.

“He is,” I said. “Sue and Gene are ... well, maybe not like you and Dad, but they have that potential.”

“And Gene and I didn’t,” Angie said. “Good guy — great guy — but we’d never be you and Dad.”

Mom sniffled a bit. “That’s so sweet! I wouldn’t want less for you, not if you could help it. That’s part of what I mean about being proud of Paige and Jasmine as daughters-in-law. I wouldn’t think, ‘Well, they did well, but not like Sam and I did.’”

That, right there, almost made me cry. I think I could’ve covered it, but I managed to hold back. Looking emotional would be fine — I had plenty of reason to be emotional.

Crying, though ... that might have been a bit harder. Mom just explained so much about my ex-wife. In her eyes (correctly!) we could never have had what she and Dad had. How could she not be disappointed? How could she not have felt like I could’ve done better?

Angie had the slightest hint of emotion, too. Easily covered, but I’m sure Carrie, and what Mom and Dad would have thought of her, had crossed her mind. Carrie was gone, or perhaps a ‘never to be’ instead, but Angie would always have that just a little. My ex-wife was gone, too, but I would always bear that, too.

We are a product of our experiences, after all, even when those experiences happened to some people who were almost us, in a universe that was almost like the one we lived in, in years yet to come.

We talked for a bit longer with Mom. By unspoken mutual agreement, we shifted to more practical matters of things we would need for the house, what furniture we might take, and all manner of other things. Mom would be living vicariously through us again. It was entirely possible that she would never move again herself (though I hoped she would!), and she would be thrilled to help Angie and me settle into the new house and make it a home for what would hopefully be our new families.

As we were wrapping up breakfast, Mom said, “At least I won’t have to worry about you two starving! Sam would’ve had a lot of trouble living off-campus.”

Dad picked that moment to walk in, and said, “I resembled that remark, but I’ll have you know that now I can make a very fine can of soup, and can cut some bread to go with it!”

Mom chuckled. “That you can, Dear! That you definitely can!”

They kissed quickly, which was another of those tiny things that I’d totally have missed if I hadn’t done this twice. First-life Mom and Dad were plenty affectionate, but there was just a bit more now — or, rather, they were more open about it.

I think we were the difference. First-life Steve had no romantic relationships until he was long moved away from home, and then one with a woman who they didn’t really approve of. Subconsciously, their knowing that Angie and I understood what they were feeling made them less self-conscious about showing it.

We rinsed our dishes and put them in the dishwasher, then headed off to get dressed. We’d just finished an exam week, but there was always homework to do, things to be read, and papers to be written. Until May, that would be our life just as surely as any of the many distractions we had.

Mom had another surprise for us. Angie and I were both in my room (Angie curled up in the chair, feet tucked under her, which was very cute — and I have high standards for ‘very cute,’ after all!), reading, when Mom knocked on the open door.

“I hope you kids won’t mind if I let you take yourself to your appointment,” she said.

“Nah,” Angie said. “Is anything wrong?”

“Oh, no!” Mom said, blushing a bit. “Sam and I were thinking of going to see ‘Terms of Endearment’ and then getting dinner. Well, he wanted to see ‘Gorky Park’, but ... maybe we can see that another time. I know you’ll be away, anyway, so...”

“We’d be happy to!” Angie said.

“Definitely!” I said.

Angie grinned. “You kids have fun!”

Mom giggled, still a trifle red. “We will! You grown-ups don’t take yourself too seriously!”

“We won’t!” Angie and I both said.

Mom smiled. “I love you both so much.”

“And we love you and Dad so much, too!” Angie said.

“Very, very much,” I said.

Mom turned away, I’m pretty sure before she started sniffling.

“Thanks! Have fun!” she said as she headed down the hall.

Angie and I just exchanged a look. Nothing like that had ever happened when I was growing up, and Angie’s look said it hadn’t for her either, not that I doubted it.

We left for Jane’s around one-thirty, as Mom and Dad were getting changed. There was no doubt that this was a ‘date,’ though Mom was caught between being happy about it and downplaying it the way she always had.

As we were leaving, something struck me, but I waited until we got to the car. After I’d helped Angie in, then gotten in myself, I said, “Tell me that I’m not wrong about Mom.”

“What?” Angie said. “I doubt you are, but...”

“She’s thinner. I’ve been confusing myself with the Mom I knew a decade later, I think. If I think back three years, instead of thirty years, she’s lost quite a bit of weight. I mean, in a healthy way.”

Angie nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. I only saw them a few times after 1990, but she was always heavier. I guess I hadn’t thought about it so much.”

“She and Dad totally changed their eating habits after I left for college.”

“Not so much for us, but I think some was stress and comfort food.”

“Both kids on an iffy path?” I said.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Angie and Steve strike again!”

She giggled. “We do that a lot!”

Jane was surprised to see both of us without Mom. She wound up giving her receptionist the rest of the day off — which wasn’t uncommon, since we were usually her last patients on Saturday — and then invited both of us back into her office.

“It’s been too long since I get both of you!” she said, as we were exchanging hugs.

“Mom and Dad are off on a date,” Angie said, grinning.

“I take it this is new?” Jane said.

“Very. We think it’s a great development,” Angie said.

“And new to both of us,” I said.

“They’ve been on dates recently, though?” Jane said.

“Some,” Angie said. “This is more ... spur-of-the-moment.”

“And more ‘the kids are fine, we can just go do our thing now instead of waiting for them to really be away, ’” I said. “Before, they planned their dates to start as we were leaving. Mom would have felt obligated to be here.”

“That all sounds good,” Jane said.

“I think so,” I said. “Hopefully we’ll have them around, and happy, for a long time to come.”

“I’ll still give her an update, but I’m certain there’s nothing to tell her,” Jane said, chuckling.

“As always, nothing to report,” Angie said.

“Jas thinks there will be, one day,” I said, smiling a bit.

“Not until after we’re past mandatory reporting,” Angie said.

“I should have known you were talking about this with your girlfriends,” Jane said.

“Technically, Paige and I haven’t completely discussed it.”

“Right. Just Steve potentially fathering kids by both you and Paige,” Jane said, actually smirking a bit.

“Turkey basters exist,” Angie said, smirking right back.

“Children!” I said, which got them both laughing. “Can we get back to business!”

“Of course!” Jane said, chuckling. “What’s new?”

“First,” Angie said, “we got accepted to A&M, which — duh! Of course, we did! Much more importantly, A&M offered generous scholarships to all four of us.”

“So that’s pretty much settled,” I said. “Well, that and we found a house to buy and are working on that.”

Jane chuckled. “Congratulations, and also congratulations. Not many kids at A&M will be on full scholarships and living in a house they own.”

“Technically, the LLC will own it,” I said. “Makes a lot more sense overall.”

“Besides that, we have two big topics,” Angie said. “You know what mine is going to be. After that, Steve can bring up his. I mean, they’re both ours, but also not.”

“Okay,” Jane said, nodding.

Angie pulled out the note and read it.

After, Jane nodded slowly. “Very interesting. There’s too little there for me to say all that much. She could be playing to you. Or ... well, she is playing to you, but it could be a put-on or not.”

“Same as before,” Angie said. “I think it’s authentic, as far as it goes. I mean, I know what that ‘life could be so easy’ voice sounds like, and that’s what I meant by saying it takes its own time. Now, she could’ve just played that up, but she has to have had those moments. Her therapist would know better than I possibly could whether she’s doing okay or not, and I have to hope that her therapist would smack her if she was trying to lie to her daughter about her recovery.”

“Me, too,” Jane said. “Mostly because lying to you will burn her badly eventually. Her therapist should be highly concerned about her first meeting with you. A bad meeting could derail every bit of progress.”

“Which I’ll do my level best to avoid, of course,” Angie said, “But her therapist can’t possibly know that. It’d be perfectly reasonable to assume that, four years after abandoning me to attempted rape and serious bodily harm, I might harbor a bit of a grudge.”

“Any reasonable person would assume you would,” Jane said, nodding.

“I’m going to take my time with the reply. The earliest we could possibly meet is this summer, and I have no idea if that’s possible. She would have to be in the right place, both emotionally and legally,” Angie said. “I’m okay with going around Mom and Dad, under the circumstances, but not going around the law.”

“Of course. Getting caught violating the law would be a disaster for her, and also a huge risk for her progress,” Jane said.

“That’s really all I have right now,” Angie said. “We can move on to the other big thing.”

“We have another addition to the list of people who know,” I said.

“I knew that,” Jane said. “Angie called me right after telling Paige. I support it, of course.”